


The Botanist and The Pig

by TheSoupStoreManager



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-30 16:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13955613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSoupStoreManager/pseuds/TheSoupStoreManager
Summary: The Botanist and The Pig meet in less than ideal circumstances.





	The Botanist and The Pig

The sound of crows echoed through the meat processing plant as Claudette ran away from who all the other survivors nicknamed the pig, vaulting through a window and barely dodging a lunge from the killer.  
They kept thinking about the plan, one devised by none other than Jake himself. The killers couldn't be harmed directly in any way they had access to, but they could be stunned, so he thought they may be knocked out. She didn't know how but Jake had drawn a schematic on bark of the pig's hidden blade and how to rig it against them, which they put inside the toolbox she held along with the tools to do the job. The instructions so simple she scarcely believed they would work.  
The hardest part was running from the pig to the spot she needed to go. It was close, but not close enough that she knew if it would be possible to make it. Running like this was hard, botany did not include a need for physical endurance. No matter how much she tried she wasn't an athlete.  
Dropping a pallet as the pig lunged at her she got to the agreed place. They were stunned by the pallet dropping on them, staring directly at Claudette after they recovered to see if she would try to run circles around the pallet. Meg's the one good at running around and dropping pallets, distracting the killer and giving the others precious time, she had the nerves for that. It took all of what the little botanist had to not run away right there and then.  
Just as the pig stomped and broke the pallet David ran behind them and attacked with a heavy toolbox of their own. The rattling of tools inside heard by everyone as it connected with the back of their head and knocking them out cold. He chuckled heartily at the sight, prodding at their leg with their feet and seeing no response.  
“Bloody thing 'ave us runnin' away from 'em scared out of our wits 'n they are weak as a twig.”  
“Yeah...” She let out a shaky breath and crouched down low, poking its side.  
“I'll be goin' now, have fun doin' yer thing.” Then he left through the nearby exit gate, not looking back.  
Rolling up the jacket it worn they showed the intricate contraption that hid the blade and extended it when needed. Jake would probably have a field day dismantling it piece by piece and figuring out the role each one had. There was something else she noticed though, old looking scars. Moving the sleeve up further revealed many more of both through the length of its arm. She thought back to the boxes she had to search through to untrap herself, how her arms got mangled as she desperately tried to find the key, the trap beeping faster and faster.  
These scars differed from that though. Bringing up her own jacket sleeve she brought the two arms close together to compare. Her cuts were fresh and uneven, different angles, lengths and depths. The old scars on its arm were all straight, uniform and parallel.  
Uncovering it's other sleeve she saw the same thing, among a select few that seemed to have healed recently and one that still hadn't fully healed. There were different ones, as old as the ones from before, but these were like hundreds of little pinpricks right where the elbow bent. There were no recent ones there.  
She reached for her toolbox and opened it. Inside were smaller tools than what she was used to, probably for smaller, more precise work than repairing generators or sabotaging hooks. As she went to grab something from it her hand froze, hovering close before withdrawing back. There was one more thing she had to check, one thing she needed to know.  
Staring right into the pig's eyes she reached a hand out and grabbed its head. It wasn't a head at all, it was a mask, a very realistic mask. Dreading what disfigured being she might find underneath she lifted it. There was no disfigured being underneath the mask, there was just a woman. She had her eyes closed, shallow breathing, dishevelled hair on hear head and obscuring some of her face. Brushing it aside let them see more of her face, her bags under her eyes, and Claudette may have been mistaken but even knocked out she seemed anxious, almost afraid.  
She was like her, trapped in here and forced to play the entity's game, just on the other side, she was as scared of it as they were. We had ourselves to fall back on, to console us and to help us through this nightmare in which we were stuck.  
They had no one.  
Claudette didn't know why, she blamed her empathy and altruistic nature on this but she reached for a pocket inside her botanist's uniform. There she grabbed a gardenia, still as fresh and fragrant as the day she first got here. It reminded her of home, and that through all the nightmares there will always be hope. She pulled the left sleeve of the woman's jacket back down. After that she carefully and gently wrapped the stalk around the end of the sleeve, tying it around itself and leaving the flower as a sort of bracelet on her wrist. She held her left hand on her own for a moment, looking at the woman's face with a deep sadness.  
That sadness quickly turned to fear when she felt the woman's hand tense as she stirred with a quiet groan of pain and opened her eyes. She seemed as scared of her as Claudette, her dark brown staring right back at her own. Her heart beat quicker than ever in her whole life, including her time here. She froze, and after a moment she ran as fast as she could towards the exit gate. Her legs were sore and in pain from the earlier running but right there in that moment she didn't have time to think about that.  
Leaving the trial and reaching the familiar campfire they sat down and stared off into the distance. She didn't know what to think, she had too much to think, she didn't want to think.  
“Did you do it?” asked Jake after a while at the campfire.  
“No, it woke up right after David left. I had to run a lot to get away unscathed.” lied Claudette. She wanted no one to know of what she saw.  
“Shame, guess it's more resilient than we thought.”  
“Honestly, why did you need me in particular to do that?”  
“It's simple, it's because you're a botanist. You have a gentle touch and can do fine work, I'm not great at dealing with small parts,” then his neutral expression turned into a grin that could match Ace's on a bad day “and the pig might or might not be slightly angry with me for trying to tamper with her traps.”  
Claudette let out a laugh as Jake joined her by the campfire. The next long while passed by, escaping some times, getting sacrificed others, she hated to think it but all of that had become routine now. She entered another trial and walked to a generator. Then she noticed one of the razor-filled boxes she associated with the pig.  
Continuing on their path they repaired the generator while others completed their own. There were only a few left when she felt her heartbeat quicken suddenly, the killer's presence being right next to her. She looked to her right.  
The pig... the woman was there, crouching down next to her. They didn't make any sudden movements, they just stared at them through that mask. When her right hand moved she thought they were preparing for an attack, but instead all that happened was that they reached to their other hand to gently caress the flower Claudette had given them, looking down at it.  
Without a word they got up and left, and the heartbeat pounding in their ears got slower and slower until it finally stopped. She went back to working on repairing the generator a moment later, but now with a small hint of a kind smile. The fragrant smell of the gardenia was still in the air.  
We could all use a little more hope these days.


End file.
